Fails the Bechdel test
My Policeman
2022. Directed by Michael Grandage, written by Ron Nyswaner and Bethan Roberts.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
The arrival of Patrick into Marion and Tom's home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previously.
- Released
- 04 Nov 2022
- Genres
- Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 50 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 4 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Marion 344 lines, woman
- Tom 316 lines, man
- Patrick 203 lines, man
- Julia 34 lines, woman
- Nigel 19 lines, man
- Prosecutor 17 lines, man
- Bert 8 lines, man
- Sylvie 7 lines, woman
- Mr. Burgess 6 lines, man
- Roy 4 lines, man
Full cast, 36 people
- Gina McKee as Marion
- Linus Roache as Tom
- Rupert Everett as Patrick
- Harry Styles as Younger Tom
- Emma Corrin as Younger Marion
- David Dawson as Younger Patrick
- Kadiff Kirwan as Nigel
- Emily John as Pamela
- Dora Davis as Sylvie
- Joseph Potter as Roy
- Richard Dempsey as Librarian
- Jae Alexander as Pianist London Café
- Freya Mavor as Julia
- Sean Jackson as Pedestrian
- Maddie Rice as Jackie Stewart
- Richard Cant as Rudy
- Chris Ma as Pianist Argyle Bar
- Lucy Briers as Miss Brown
- Jack Bandeira as Leonard
- Gareth Kennerley as Policeman in Alleyway
- John Sandeman as Policeman in Alleyway
- Nicholas Tennant as Gordon Burgess
- Charlotte Randle as Mrs. Burgess
- Patrick Brennan as Detective Inspector
- Brian Martin as Police Constable
- James Tucker as Duty Police Officer
- Tristan Sturrock as Defense Counsel
- Ian Drysdale as Prosecutor
- Stefano Braschi as Jonathan
- Harry Attwell as Prison Guard
- Simon Shorten as Prison Cellmate
- Michael Ayala-Cole as Teddy Boy (uncredited)
- James Hare as Pier Visitor (uncredited)
- Sarah Lockett as Teacher (uncredited)
- Róisín Monaghan as Teacher (uncredited)
- Andrew Tiernan as Bert (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 157
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 to 12 | 18 | 17 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 20 | 5 | 6 |
| 21 to 24 | 30 | 19 |
| 25 to 28 | 16 | 16 |
| 29 to 32 | 5 | 4 |
| 33 to 36 | 11 | 3 |
| 37 to 40 | 19 | 32 |
| 41 to 44 | 4 | 11 |
| 45 to 48 | 16 | 21 |
| 49 to 52 | 5 | 2 |
| 53 to 56 | 24 | 2 |
| 57 to 60 | 33 | 35 |
| 61 to 64 | 15 | 2 |
| 65 to 68 | 21 | 18 |
| 69 to 72 | 2 | 17 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 20 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 34 |
| 81 to 84 | 9 | 44 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 2 |
| 89 to 92 | 2 | 7 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 21 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 20 |
| 101 to 104 | 8 | 9 |
| 105 to 108 | 6 | 11 |
| 109 to 112 | 9 | 20 |
| 113 to 116 | 2 | 12 |
| 117 to 120 | 13 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 33 |
| 125 to 128 | 5 | 9 |
| 129 to 132 | 6 | 42 |
| 133 to 136 | 36 | 2 |
| 137 to 140 | 28 | 36 |
| 141 to 144 | 11 | 32 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 0 |
| 149 to 152 | 27 | 18 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 0 |
| 157 to 157 | 0 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 40 are women's.
389 lines from women, 582 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 18 men in the cast. 5 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 91 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 39% of the words (3,517), men 61% (5,408). Women have 40% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
6
Two men
33
Exhibit E: behind the camera
5 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 41% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Michael Grandage (man)
- Written by
- Ron Nyswaner (man)
- From the novel by
- Bethan Roberts (gender not listed)
- Produced by
- Greg Berlanti (man), Sarah Schechter (woman), Robbie Rogers (man), Cora Palfrey (woman), Philip Herd (man)
- Shot by
- Ben Davis (man)
- Music by
- Steven Price (man)
- Production design by
- Maria Djurkovic (woman)
- Costumes by
- Annie Symons (woman)
- Cast by
- Julie Harkin (woman), Sam Stevenson (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
3 women, 2 men, 31 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 6 men, 14 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 3 men, 19 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 4 men, 18 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 3 men, 14 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 0 men, 13 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 12 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 58 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Gina McKee 58
Men
Harry Styles 28, Kadiff Kirwan 33, David Dawson 40, Linus Roache 58, Rupert Everett 63
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 157 scenes and 976 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
